He was the personification of the evil dictator clad in his familiar khaki uniform and cap and chomping on his cigar, he ruled with an iron fist over his island nation.
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He was the personification of the evil dictator clad in his familiar khaki uniform and cap
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and chomping on his cigar, he ruled with an iron fist over his island nation.
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He took on the United States and brought the world to the brink of nuclear holocaust.
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Shifting attention to his own country he decimated the economy, creating a Communistic dictatorship
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that forced the people to revere him, even as he ruined their lives.
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In this weeks Biogragphics we take a close look at the life of Fidel Castro.
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Birth of a Dictator
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Fidel Castro was born on August 13th, 1926 in the small farming village of Manacas in
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northern Oriente, Cuba.
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His father,Angel Castro y Igas, had immigrated from Spain in 1898 and picked up work as a
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bricklayer and railroad worker before starting his own business selling lemonade to field
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workers.
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From this humble start, he built a small sugarcane empire comprising 26,000 acres and 300 worker
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families.
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Angels first wife, Maria Argota, gave birth to two children and then either died or simply
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walked out on the family.
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Angel soon took up with his young maid, Lina Ruz Gonzalez, who bore him three children;
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Angela, Ramon and Fidel.
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The couple were married shortly after Fidels birth.
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They were a relatively wealthy family who lived in a Galician style two storey country
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house.
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Still, they lived a decidedly country lifestyle with chickens and pigs wandering through the
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house.
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Fidel was named after a local politician, with his name meaning Faithful.
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He had his fathers temperament, which meant that he was prone to violent outbursts.
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His sister recalls that if he was playing baseball and his team were losing he would
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simply gather up the equipment and walk off the field.
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Close friend and future novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez recalled that Fidel was the worst
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loser he had ever met.
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When he reached school age, Fidel was sent to study in Santiago, the second largest city
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in Cuba.
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For the first two years he stayed with his Godparents and as homeschooled by them.
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After that he was enrolled at the Marist La Salle School along with brothers Ramon and
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Raul.
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Fidel soon gained a reputation as a troublemaker and a bully.
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When he was in the fourth grade, Fidels father received a letter stating that his
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three boys were the biggest bullies in the entire school.
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Angel was furious and pulled the boys out of the school.
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This enraged Fidel who threatened to burn down the house.
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He ended up being set to a more demanding Jesuit school in Havana, with his father threatening
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to cut off his allowance if his grades dropped below a certain level.
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Fidel responded by forging his school reports.
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Castro proved to be a decidedly average student but there was one area in which he excelled.
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He had a photographic memory, a fact which hugely impressed his fellow students.
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They would call to him a page number from their textbooks and he would recite the page
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word for word.
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In his teens, Fidel began to develop his ability as a public speaker and debater.
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After an initial rejection he gained acceptance into the Allevenada Literary Academy, which
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was the literary wing at the Jesuit school.
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At first he was paralyzed by stage fright but he gradually became more relaxed and confident
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in his presentations.
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In October, 1945, Fidel entered law school at the University of Havana.
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At the time the university was a self governing body which forbade the police or army from
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setting foot on campus.
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As a result, it was a hotbed of clandestine activity by gangsters and political agitators.
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It was a very attractive environment for the hotheaded Castro.
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Political Agitator
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Fidels first foray into political agitation was precipitated by a rise in bus fares that
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had been authorized by Cuban President Ramon Grau.
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Castro organized a protest against the fare rise and led a march to the Presidential palace.
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The police beat the students, with Fidel himself receiving slight injuries.
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He used the incident to his advantage by going to the press and receiving some sympathetic
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coverage.
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At the time that Castro enrolled at the University, there were two main gangster groups who were
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vying for control; the Socialist Revolutionary Movement (MSR) and the Insurrectional Revolutionary
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Union (UIR).
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There were frequent violent clashes between the two groups.
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Fidel quickly sized up the situation and began to maneuver between the two groups.
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In December, 1946 there was an assassination attempt on a leading member of the UIR and
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Castro was fingered as the triggerman, his assumed motive being to ingratiate himself
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with MSR leadership.
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As it turned out, it was the leader of UIR, Emilio Tro, who took Castro under his wing.
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He gave Fidel a pistol, which the young budding revolutionary carried with him at all times.
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Tro had been planning an invasion of the Dominican Republic in conjunction with a group of Dominican
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exiles in response to the terrible conditions brought about by the rule of Rafael Trujillo.
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Castro quickly jumped on board and sailed with about 12,000 fellow revolutionaries to
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Cayo Confites on July 29th, 1947.
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For two months they underwent paramilitary training before setting off for the Dominican
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mainland.
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Meanwhile,Trujillo had learned of the planned attack and had even appealed to the United
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States for aid.
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The revolutionary leaders got cold feet and called off the invasion and the embarrassed
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Cuban army began rounding up the ships and taking the would-be attackers into custody.
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Castro manage to evade custody by jumping ship and swimming the eight miles to shore.
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In 1947, Castro visited a new model prison on the Isle of Pines as part of his legal
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studies.
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When he returned to Havana he criticized the prison and its inhumane treatment of its inhabitants.
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The following year he was part of a student congress that travelled to Bogota, Colombia.
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On April 7th, the group met with the leader of the Liberal Party, Jorge Gaitan, who looked
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likely to win the upcoming general election.
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Two days later, Gaitan was shot dead.
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Bogota erupted in violence and the students from Cuba were caught in the middle of it.
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Castro became actively involved, participating in the takeover of a police station.
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After three days, the authorities restod order, but not before some 3,500 people had been
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killed.
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Castro returned to Havana where he became a follower of Senator Eddie Chibas, the main
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opponent of President Grau.
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Chibas was the founder of the Cuban Peoples Party.
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Castro campaigned hard for Chibas in his unsuccessful bid for the presidency in 1948.
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Still, the two men were never close.
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Chibas saw Fidel as somewhat of an embarrassment due to his gangster background and Fidel only
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ever viewed the leader as an obstacle to his own path to power.
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Budding Politician
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In order to gain political respectability, Fidel cut off association with his gangster
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associates.
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He gave speeches on campus denouncing the two main gangs and naming names of those who
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were responsible for criminal activity.
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This made him a target for both groups and he was forced into hiding.
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Around this time Fidel, who was generally awkward and shy around women, met Mirta Diaz-Balart,
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the daughter of one of the wealthiest men in Cuba.
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The couple fell in love and were married in 1948, with Mirtas father gifting them $10,000
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for ap three month honeymoon in the United States.
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Most of their time was sent in New York, where Fidel learned some English.
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Returning to Cuba, the newlyweds moved into a hotel across the street from a military
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camp in Havana.
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In September, 1949 Mirta gave birth to a son, who would come to be known as Fidelito.
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Having graduated from University, Fidel began a small law practice.
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Most of his time, however, was spent dabbling in politics.
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On August 15th, 1951, Peoples Party leader Eddie Chibas was giving his usual Sunday radio
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address, urging the people to stop accepting the corruption of the government and take
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action.
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He then pulled out a pistol and shot himself in the stomach.
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The dramatic act was intended to rouse the people but Chibas had spoken for too long
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and his suicide attempt was not broadcast.
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For the next eleven days, Chibas lay in a hospital bed in terrible agony.
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At his side the whole time was Fidel Castro.
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When the leader died, Castro was prominent as part of the honor guard that stood outside
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the University Hall of Honor, where Chibas lay in state.
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As the military escort prepared to lead the body through the streets in a large procession,
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Castro entreated the captain to divert the route to the Presidential Palace.
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Fidel was convinced that he could rouse the people to overthrow the government.
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But the army captain refused, fearing that a bloodbath would ensue.
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The following year, Castro ran for a seat on the Chamber of Deputies.
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He managed to garner the support of the majority of the Peoples Party members and looked
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in line to win in the upcoming election.
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However, on March 10th, former president Fulgencio Batista staged a military coup and seized
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power.
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He began rounding up political adversaries, including members of the Peoples Party.
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Fidel and his brother Raoul went into hiding.
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The Batista coup diverted Castro from what could have been a promising diplomatic career
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in favor of becoming a fully fledged revolutionary.
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He gathered together his own political group, drawn from former Peoples Party members
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and followers from his University days.
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Traveling up and down the country, he put his oratorical and propaganda skills to full
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effect.
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After fourteen months, he had a following of 12,000 people.
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Rebel Leader
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Castro ran his organization with military precision and discipline.
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Drinking alcohol was forbidden and he imposed strict sexual standards.
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He also organized his forces at a cellular level, with members of each cell being unaware
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of the existence of other cells.
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By the middle of 1953, Castro had the support base he needed to stage his own coup.
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What he didnt have were weapons or the money to buy them.
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His solution was to attack a military base and seize its weapons.
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The base selected was located at Moncado.
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The attack, however, was bungled from the start one of the twenty six vehicles en
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route to the base had a flat tire; another took a wrong turn and did not arrive until
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the attack was well under way.
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When the remainder of the vehicles arrived at the base they were surprised to find it
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heavily fortified.
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The military defenders soon beat back the invaders, with eight of Castros men being
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killed.
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The remainder fled, but over the next few days many of them were rounded up by the authorities.
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Sixty-nine of them were tortured and then put to death.
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Castro himself was put on trial before a military tribunal.
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He used the opportunity to speak out about the regime of Batista and the harsh treatment
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of his fellow revolutionaries.
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His courtroom defense statement History Will Absolve Me would become probably his
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most famous speech.
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Still, he was convicted and sentenced to 15 years imprisonment.
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Castro and his followers were sent to Isle of Pines prison.
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Fidel used his time there to instill a supreme level of order and discipline in his men.
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The Castro rebels gained a reputation for their good behavior and were given ever greater
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freedoms.
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On May 6th, 1954, bowing to public pressure, president Batista granted amnesty to Castro
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and his men.
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The show of good faith from the president, however, did not stop Castro from speaking
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about the regime.
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When two of his men were badly beaten by Batista enforcers, Fidel became increasingly concerned
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for his own safety.
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He would move houses every two to three days and then, just two months after being released
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from prison, he left Cuba for Mexico.
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It was Castros plan to build up and train a new wing of his revolutionary army in Mexico
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and then return to join forces with those already in Havana in a huge push to oust the
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Batista regime.
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His Mexican army began as a group of about sixty Cuban defectors who lived in six small
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houses under strict disciplinary conditions imposed by Fidel.
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It was during this period that Castro met Ernesto Che Guevara, who would play
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a key role on the coming revolution.
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Castro launched his revolution in late November, 1956 from the port of Tuxpan on the Mexican
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coast.
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It was planned to coincide with another uprising organized by a rival anti-Batista group.
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Fidel had bought a 60 foot boat that was designed to take a maximum of 25 passengers and piled
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82 of his men onboard.
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As it chugged its way toward Cub, the boat was in constant danger of capsizing.
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The journey was so slow that the planned five day trip took seven days, meaning that they
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would miss the uprising of the other group.
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The boat beached at a place called Purgatory Point on December 2nd.
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But by now Batistas army, who had already put down the first rebellion, had learned
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that Castro was on his way and had planes overhead ready to strafe the invaders and
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bomb the area.
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Only about a dozen men survived, Castro and Guevara among them.
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They began a three day march through the forest, constantly being hounded from the air by the
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Cuban air force.
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They finally reached the Sierra Maestra region where they settled with the local villagers
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and began to regroup.
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Six weeks later Castro led thirty three men on a guerilla raid on a tiny army garrison
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in La Plata.
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Two soldiers were killed and the rebels stole off with a number of weapons.
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A month after this attack, Castro decided it was time to get his propaganda machine
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in motion.
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He sent one of his men to Havana to bring a foreign journalist back to the camp.
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The man chosen was from the New York Times and soon a three part story had appeared in
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that paper describing the massive military buildup that Castro was organizing in the
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south of Cuba.
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Castros support base grew exponentially, with more and more disaffected Cubans joining
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his ranks.
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In March, 1958, younger brother Raoul began to establish a second force out of Oriente,
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which soon grew in number.
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Raoul proved to be a highly capable military commander, with his force capturing and destroying
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many planes, tanks and military vehicles.
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In April, Fidel called upon the people of Cuba to stage a nationwide strike.
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He believed that this would be the start of his long planned for uprising.
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President Bautista responded by threatening to shoot anyone who participated in the strike.
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As a result, more than 140 people were shot down in the street.
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But this action only fuelled Castros support base and even more people streamed to him.
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With the tide now decidedly turned in his favor, Castro decided to move.
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He sent Che Guevara and another of his commanders, Camilo Cienfuegos, on a westward march toward
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Havana, along with their rebel forces.
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The government forces put up virtually no resistance and the rebels were able to take
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control, one town after another.
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On December 31st, 1958, with Castros men closing in, Batista resigned and fled the
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country.
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Three days later, Castro arrived in Santiago to a heros welcome.
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He gave a speech in front of 200,000 people.
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Hours later, Guevara and Cienfuegos marched into Havana and seized control of the reigns
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of power.
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The Castro era had begun.
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Castros Cuba
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The transfer of power was amazingly orderly.
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Castro had wanted his men against looting or destroying property.
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He had come to power on the backs of a huge army of poor and illiterate peasants.
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Now that he had gained power, he would need educated men to help him to govern.
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He chose to appoint his former professor, Jose Miro Cardona, as prime minister and Manuel
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Urrutia to be president.
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He made himself supreme commander of armed forces.
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Behind the scenes, however, Castro put the organization in place to ensure that he was
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the holder of overall power.
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In the weeks following the revolution more than 500 Batista officials were tried, convicted
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and put to death.
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That number would rise to 1,900 over the coming year.
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Within 7 months of seizing power, Castro decided that he no longer had any need for the puppet
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government.
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On July 16th, he announced that he was resigning his position as army commander because he
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could no longer work with President Urrutia, who he accused of corruption.
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Castro then disappeared for a number of days.
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Just as Fidel had intended, the people rose up in protest and demanded that the President
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must go.
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A frightened Urrutia sought sanctuary in the Venezuelan embassy before escaping the country.
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This allowed Castro to return in triumph and appoint himself as President.
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Castro now imposed totalitarian rule.
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Those who did not give him their absolute support were in danger of being seized and
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put on trial or simply shot.
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Within a few short months all signs of resistance within Cuba, including critical media, had
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been removed.
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Now Castro fixed his attention on securing external security.
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A focus was put on increasing the size and strength of the army.
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Six months after seizing power, Castro visited the United States, where he was greeted with
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enthusiasm by the media, politicians and public alike.
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Behind the scenes, however, the Eisenhower government were already making plans for Castros
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removal.
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International Tensions
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In February 1960, the Cuban leader signed an agreement with the Russians, by which Cuban
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sugar would be traded for military arms and oil.
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This was at the height of the Cold War and many of the oil refineries in Cuba were American
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owned.
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When the owners refused to process Soviet oil imports, Castro seized their businesses.
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The US Government responded by cutting 700,000 tons from the US annual purchase commitment.
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In turn, Castro nationalized US owned agricultural and industrial businesses.
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Castros move had a huge impact on the US Mafia, which lost about $100 million worth
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of property in the tourist industry alone.
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During the period of the nationalization of industry, more than 200,000 professional and
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upper class citizens fled the country.
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Relations between the United States and Cuban governments became so strained that, in March
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1960, President Eisenhower green lighted the training of a group of Cuban exiles to stage
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an invasion to seek control.
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The ball was picked up by President Kennedy, resulting in the disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion.
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Castro had gotten wind of the invasion and had his forces ready and waiting.
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With the lack of promised US air support, the Cuban rebels were cut to pieces.
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In December 1st, 1961 Castro went on national television and declared that he was a Marxist-Leninist
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and would be one until the day he died.
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The Soviets took a wary view of their newly declared Communist fellow but the Americans
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responded immediately, imposing a total economic blockade of Cuba.
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This led to economic disaster, with massive food shortages resulting.
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Finally, the Soviet Government decided to embrace Castro.
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They offered to station Soviet missiles on the island.
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In mid October, 1962 the American government got concrete evidence of the missile operation,
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leading to what became known as the Cuban Missile Crisis.
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President Kennedy placed a total military blockade around Cuba and announced that a
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military attack from Cuba on any nation would be seen as a direct attack by the Soviet Union
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on the United States.
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Castro urged the Russians to make a pre-emptive strike on the United States if the Americans
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attacked his island.
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After thirteen days, during the world was a hair trigger away from Nuclear destruction,
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the Russians backed down and agreed to remove the missiles.
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Castro was left completely out of the negotiation process and he was not happy.
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Soviet President Nikita Khrushchev tried to placate him by inviting Castro on a 40-day
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trip through the Soviet Union.
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Durg the trip, Khrushchev offered to provide economic aid to the struggling island.
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In 1965 the United States announced that it was willing to take in Cuban refugees.
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This led to a mass exodus with a resultant huge loss of skills and manpower.
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The Sugar Cane Fiasco
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With the international situation having settled, Castro set his focus on making agricultural
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reforms to improve the economy.
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He wanted to increase the sugar harvest and set a target for national production in 1965
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of 5.5 million tons, increasing to 10 million tons by 1970.
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These expectations, however, were totally unreasonable.
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Still he poured nearly all of the countrys economic resources into the sugarcane industry,
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leaving all other economic activity barren.
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The whole country, including the elderly, young children and military workers were put
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to work in the fields in a desperate quest to reach his targets.
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Even Castro himself was said to have cut cane for four hours every day.
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As the rest of the Cuban economy fell by between 20 and 40%, the sugarcane project failed dismally
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to reach its projected targets.
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In 1970, Castro announced that the plan had failed.
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Typical of his flair for the dramatic he resigned his presidency.
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The people demanded he return and soon he was back in power with the sugar cane crisis
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behind him.
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Throughout the 1970s Castro began looking for ways to extend his influence abroad.
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He began involving himself in revolutionary movements and sending forces to train and
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lead various guerrilla operations.
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His support of civil wars in Angola and Somalia ate up more of his countrys limited resources.
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During the early 1980s sugar prices and production had increased significantly.
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This allowed the Cuban economy to grow at a rate of 24%.
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But when the sugar price slumped dramatically, ballooning Cubas international debt to
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the west to $6 billion.
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At the same time, she owed $19 billion to the Soviet Union.
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The Soviets tried to help by increasing trade but, with the fall of the Soviet Union in
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1989, all the agreements fell apart.
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The already weak Cuban economy was severely restricted.
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Strict rationing was put in place, the electricity supply became sporadic and tractors were replaced
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with ox-drawn carts.
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With his country on the brink of collapse, in 1993 Castro allowed Cubans to start private
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businesses.
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The following year he permitted foreign investors to own Cuban businesses.
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The economy, which had declined by 40% in the past three years, finally began to grow.
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The Death of a Dictator
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By the 1990s Castro was an aging, isolated and largely depressed dictator.
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The majority of his close associates were either dead or had been exiled.
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He still kept up his habit of only staying in a place for two or three nights, so he
21:17
was constantly being moved around in a bulletproof Mercedes limousine.
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During this period Castros tight grip on the country seemed to loosen slightly.
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But then, in March 2003, he imposed a crack down which saw scores of journalists, students
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and professional people arrested as dissidents of the regime.
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In July 2006, the eighty-year-old Castro underwent surgery for internal bleeding.
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The following year he handed over the Presidential reigns to his brother Raul.
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From then, Fidels health gradually deteriorated.
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The end came on November 26, 2016, though the exact cause of his death was never released.
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The country was in mourning for nine days.
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